No advice needed

925dancer

We don't even know if it does take 56 minutes, that's a TFL prediction! It could actually take more like 45 minutes or 1 hour 15 minutes but as he didn't even bother to go to the interview to find out he'll never know!

I used to leave for school at 7am as I commuted. I spent a number of years commuting for over an hour.

I would not dismiss a job before I've even been to an interview on the basis of a 56 minute commute.

Edit: You can get a travel card, it will make travel expenses cheaper than paying daily.

t0rt0ise

hello2007 wrote: »

56 minutes is nothing are you serious about looking for a job.

The OP has a job so it's a matter of them weighing up the pros and cons.

Not everyone's circumstances are the same but they still have a right to ask questions and be answered civilly.

Humphrey10

alunharford wrote: »

I'd turn down a job if the commute were more than 10 minutes! (I can't stand commuting - such a depressing and pointless waste of life)

I'm quoting alunharford because I know a lot of people that would agree with him. They are all in decently paid jobs, true they might be able to get much better paid jobs if they were willing to commute to London but they don't think the extra money is worth the commute.

When I said to a couple of these people I used to take a 40 min train ride to work plus half a mile walk either end the response was 'omg how did you stand all the travel'.

So if the OP knows that they would not be able to commute that distance to work, what's the point of them wasting the employer's time?

BTW OP I don't think it's a long commute, just take a book to read on the way!

jungle_jane

i would love a 56 minute commute...i am currently working at a location 2 to 2.5 hours each way. every day. i have to drive to the station, pay £6 to park and then get on my 1 hour commute to London. That costs £400 a month. Then i have to struggle onto the tube for another 45 mins...and if nothing has gone wrong with all of that (which is does about twice a week) i can be sat at my desk 2 hours later.

i do it happily - my alternative is local work at terrible pay, no prospects and no job enjoyment.

But that's me and my circumstances may not apply to you. if your interview was a nasty job with ordinary pay and not much career benefit then i guess 56 minutes is way too far. if, on the other hand, it enables you to work full time, earn money and get ahead...well then 56 mins seems like a cheap price to pay for all that benefit.

KiKi

I actually thought this was a joke at first, then realised it wasn't...

My first job was - door to door - 1 hour 40 minutes every day. 15 minute walk to the station, 1 hour 10 minutes on the train, 15 minute walk to the office. It wasn't the best paid job in the world, but I made my way up and ended up in a very senior role, with a great job. I did that commute for 11 years and paid over £3000 a year for the privilege. I'd do it again if I needed the work.

It may seem like an age when you're on a bus for 25 minutes, but seriously, that's life. Use the time to do something, or to sleep. I always felt that a longer commute was better than a shorter one as I could really get into reading, sudoku, writing, learning a new language or - in the morning - sleeping. I'd happily bet you spend more time than that every day doing something even more useless such as watching TV or playing computer games. Not that they're not enjoyable, but they're not productive, either. Make use of the commuting time if you need to, that's what I'm saying.

You will seriously limit your job and career prospects if you refuse to look further. If that's not what you want, then fair enough, but be prepared to take the consequences of less variety, fewer prospects, fewer career chances and less money.

KiKi

claire16c

I used to pay 4k a year to work in London (plus around £600 car parking). I had to drive to the station, catch a train which took about 10 mins, then catch 25 min train to London, then get a bus or tube. It took about an hour and a half. Then Id do the same to go home. So about 3 hours each day, IF it went to plan.

However, I lost count of the number of times it would take around 2-3 hours to get to or from work because of combination of useless train service (complete with rude people working on them, rude passengers, standing like sardines) horrendous traffic in London, or the tube having its daily problems, people throwing themselves off either the train or tube tracks, signal problems, track problems, bus problems, passenger problems, weather problems, the list goes on. Id be late to work or just getting in the door bang on time way too much. Luckily working in an office in central london it was fine as they know how bad public transport is and everyone is late at some point.

so a 56 min journey on TFL could easily equate to being trapped on a tube for 2 hours like used to routinely happen to people at my work. Power cuts, not knowing if it was bombs, it was horrible.

My bus journey from my old work to the station according to TFL takes 10 mins. A few times I was sat on it for an hour.

I did this for 4 years, and no way am I ever going back to anything like it ever again. I would rather earn less (although this isnt necessarily the case as I can earn less but take home more if I work closer to home because of hardly any travel costs) and live nearer to home and not spend half my life on public transport. Commuting time can be important to some people.

I did sometimes manage to read a paper on the way home, but I couldnt sleep in the mornings most of the time because other people were so noisy, usually had to listen to someone elses ipod at full blast, people snoring, chatting, or I was so squashed most of the time there was physically no room for a paper or book or anything like that. Then we had to move out of the way for the flipping food cart to go through the 1st class carriage and watch out for the massive jug of hot water coming at you.

You just need to weigh up what is most important to you.

mountainofdebt

RobLondon1984 wrote: »

No need to be rude

Jobs don't tell you how where the job is or how long it takes there. If I knew, I wouldn't apply there.

Trust me I wasn't being rude.

Merely making an obseration of a foolish young person.

Do you really think in these days of high unemployment, the employer is sat there twiddling his thumbs wondering why you couldn't be asked to turn up and will be jumping for joy when you tell him that you have decided to grace him with your presence after all?

And as for the time to get there, the location of the employer is usually a good indication.

paye

m8 56min to get to work is nothing. The only job I think that will be suited to you is , put some bangles on a do the house work. if you can;t travel 56 mins then there is something seriously wrong with you.

(I take my comments back if their are legit reasons in behing why you cannot make the journey)

RobLondon1984

mountainofdebt wrote: »

Trust me I wasn't being rude.

Merely making an obseration of a foolish young person.

Do you really think in these days of high unemployment, the employer is sat there twiddling his thumbs wondering why you couldn't be asked to turn up and will be jumping for joy when you tell him that you have decided to grace him with your presence after all?

And as for the time to get there, the location of the employer is usually a good indication.

I don't care what the employer think, even if he doesn't want to interview me, I can look for other jobs.

You clearly don't grasp the fact, that when you apply for jobs, the employers don't tell you where the job location is. The job could be 5 minutes away, but the employer told me it was in an area that was 56 minutes. I clearly should of written that since some people are too stupid to understand.

hcb42

I've just halved my commute. I am delighted.

It now takes me 50-60 minutes each way